Short hops and hard knocks with Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne.

Theo departure by Tuesday?

When the story broke last Wednesday that Theo Epstein had agreed to a five-year contract with the Cubs, most of us felt his coronation in Chicago — and Ben Cherington’s in Boston — would happen within the next day or two.

But as tends to happen with these things, it has dragged out, with both sides trying to make the best compensation deal possible.

For those of us who would just love to see this thing get resolved one way or the other, it’s probably good that there’s somewhat of an artificial deadline in place.

The World Series starts Wednesday night in St. Louis. MLB has a very strong policy of not wanting any major announcements to trump the Fall Classic.

I don’t think either side wants this situation to drag past the World Series, which would end on Oct. 23 at the absolute earliest.

This is a major offseason for both teams. The Red Sox need to find a new manager, and then have several key personnel decisions to make. The Cubs obviously have some big decisions to make as well — moves that are all but certain to be made by Epstein.

I’m guessing two Tuesday afternoon press conferences — one at Wrigley for Epstein and one in Boston for Cherington.

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